Civil Case Proceeding

By. Lionel McGee

Cara Fulk
Keelan Marshall

What is a Civil Case?

A non criminal case usually dealing with a dispute

between two people or parties.
Ex. Property Disputes, Divorce, Adoption, Failed
Shipment Deliveries etc.

Pleadings

A federal civil case begins when a person or that

persons lawyer files a suit with the clerk of court that
says the person was injured by another persons
wrongful act. In legal terminology, the plaintiff files the
suit. In most cases, the defendant then files an answer
to the suit. These written statements of the parties
arguments are also called pleadings. In some
circumstances, the defendant may file a motion
instead besides an answer,
Motion asks the court to take some action.

Pretrial Conferences

These are used to avoid wasting time during a trial

lawyers go to these.
Everything is sorted out what they are going to argue
at the trial.
During the Initial Conference, the judge makes contact
with the lawyers for the first time and the trial is
discussed.

Discovery

The lawyers attempt to gather evidence for there case

to use in the trial.
The media may also catch attention to this and the
news of the trial ay reach the people.

Motions

Attorneys use motions to request that the court take a specific

action. Motions may be filed at any stage of a case. Federal Rule
of Civil Procedure 12 even provides a list of motions that a
defendant may make before filing an answer to a complaint, like a
motion for a more definite statement in the complaint.
An important motion that is often filed in the pretrial phase of a
case is one for summary judgment.
The filing party attempts to convince the court of the defendant to a
judgment as a matter of law because after reviewing the evidence
in the case, there is no dispute as to the facts. If summary
judgment is granted regarding all the issues in dispute, that is the
end of the lawsuit.

Settlement Efforts & Alternative

dispute resolution

Settling doesnt mean the parties have decided to forgive and

forget. What happens in a settlement, the plaintiff agrees to accept
an amount for damages that is less than he or she had asked for,
and the defendant agrees to pay it, to put an end to the
proceedings.
First, many parties settle their cases themselves, with no outside
assistance. Second, a judge might make a special effort to help the
parties settle the case by assisting them with settlement discussions
or by referring them to a magistrate judge for settlement
discussions. Third, a judge might suggest that the parties enter into
some type of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedure. ADR is
now available in many district courts and also in some bankruptcy
courts and in all courts of appeals.

JuryTrials & Bench Trials

In a jury trial, it is the jury's job to decide what

happened and to apply the legal standards the judge
tells them to apply to reach a verdict.
In a bench trial the judge decides the facts and
renders the verdict. Both parties have to agree on a
bench trial.

Jury Selection

Citizens are selected for jury service through a process that is

set out in laws passed by Congress and in the federal rules of
procedure. First, citizens are called to court to be available to
serve on juries. These citizens are selected at random from
source lists. The judge and the lawyers in each case then
choose the persons who will actually serve on the jury.
To choose the jurors, the judge and sometimes the lawyers ask
prospective jurors questions to determine if they will be able to
decide the case fairly. This process is called voir dire. The
lawyers may also request that the judge excuse a certain
number of jurors without giving any reason; these requests are
called peremptory challenges.

Opening Statements

Once the jury has been selected, the lawyers for both
sides give their opening statements. The purpose of
the opening statements is to allow each side to give
the jury an overview of the evidence it will present.

Presentation of Evidence

1) physical evidence, such as documents, photographs, and objects (also

called exhibits),

2) the testimony of witnesses who are questioned by the lawyers.

The lawyers start to introduce the evidence after the opening statements.

First, the plaintiffs lawyer questions his or her witnesses. When lawyers
question the witnesses they have called to testify, it is called direct
examination. After the direct examination of a plaintiffs witness, the
defendants lawyer may question the witness; this is called cross-examination.
If, after the cross-examination, the plaintiffs lawyer wants to ask the witness
more questions, he or she may do so on a redirect examination, and then the
defendants lawyer has an opportunity for a recross-examination. After all of
the plaintiffs witnesses have been examined, the defense calls its witnesses,
and the same procedures are repeated.

Evidence Ruling

A period during the trial where both the defendant and

the lawyer attempt to use evidence to sway the jury and
the judges opinion.
Evidence rule prohibits the use of certain testimony,
called hearsay.
Object- to deny a testimony
Sustain- to rule at trial that a lawyers objection to
questioning or testimony is valid. When the judge
sustains an objection, the questioning or testimony
objected to must stop or be modified.

Closing Arguments

After the evidence has been presented, the lawyers for

each party make their closing arguments to the jury.
The closing arguments finish the presentation of their
cases. Closing arguments review the most important
features of each sides case, but like opening
statements, they are not evidence themselves.

Instruction & Standard of Proof

Following the closing arguments, the judge gives

instructions to the jury, explaining the relevant law,
how the law applies to the case being tried, and what
questions the jury must decide.

Deliberations & Verdict

The jury retires to the jury room to discuss the

evidence and to reach a verdict. In civil cases, all the
jurors must agree on the verdict unless the parties
have told the judge before the trial that they will accept
a non-unanimous verdict.

Judgment

In civil cases, if the jury (or judge) decides in favor of

the plaintiff, the result usually is that the defendant
must pay the plaintiff money, or damages. The judge
orders the defendant to pay the decided amount. At
times the defendant is ordered to take specific action
that will restore the plaintiffs rights. If the defendant
wins the case, however, there is nothing more the trial
court needs to do.

Right to appeal

The losing party in a federal civil case has a right to

appeal the case to the U.S. court of appeals, which
consists of asking the court of appeals to review the
case to determine whether the trial was conducted
properly. The grounds for appeal usually are that the
district judge is said to have made an error, either in
procedure or in interpreting the law. Neither party may
appeal if there was no trial-that is, if the parties settled
their civil case out of court.